Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the proposed project seeks to…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the proposed project seeks to identify how experiential learning opportunities, student services and institutional practices at land-grant institutions in new mexico, impact retention and graduation of tribal students. For this purpose, we will offer experiential learning opportunities that draw connections between tribal students' cultural background and their academic experiences, and relevant real-world internships, professional development, and career exploration opportunities.indian resources development at new mexico state university will lead this project in partnership with navajo technical university. Additional collaborators include mentors from regional land-grant institutions, tribal entities, and native professionals. Collaborators will work closely with one another to support student interns while designing surveys, questionnaires, and other evaluation tools that will record how different project components, student services, and institutional practices, contribute to student retention and graduation at land-grant institutions. In addition to the experiential learning, there will be an outreach component to high schools to promote higher education opportunities in food, agriculture, natural resources and human sciences at land-grant institutions within new mexico, in order to expand the number of students who enroll in post-secondary courses. At the end of the grant period, the data gathered via the evaluation tools for each component of the project will be compiled and shared with an informed science community and other interested parties about the effectiveness of the project in contributing to addressing the challenge of increasing the number of tribal students who graduate from land-grant institutions.